Mobility of large rock avalanches: Evidence from Valles Marineris, Mars

Details Mobility of large rock avalanches: Evidence from Valles Marineris, Mars Mobility of large rock avalanches: Evidence from Valles Marineris, Mars

Dec 1989

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1989geo....17.1111m&link_type=abstract

Geology, vol. 17, Issue 12, p.1111

Physics

61

Scientific paper

Measurements of H/L (height of drop/length of runout) vs. volume for landslides in Valles Marineris on Mars show a trend of decreasing H/L with increasing volume. This trend, which is linear on a log-log plot, is parallel to but lies above the trend for terrestrial dry rock avalanches. This result and estimates of 104 to 105 Pa yield strength suggest that the landslides were not water saturated, as suggested by previous workers. The offset between the H/L vs. volume trends shows that a typical Martian avalanche must be nearly two orders of magnitude more voluminous than a typical terrestrial avalanche in order to achieve the same mobility. This offset might be explained by the effects of gravity on flows with high yield strengths. These results should prove useful to future efforts to resolve the controversy over the mechan-ics of long-runout avalanches.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Mobility of large rock avalanches: Evidence from Valles Marineris, Mars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Mobility of large rock avalanches: Evidence from Valles Marineris, Mars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mobility of large rock avalanches: Evidence from Valles Marineris, Mars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1570188